Comfort Food

Wedding Bells

Regina's heels clicked along the wooden floors as she hurried to the staircase. She brought her cellphone to her ear as it rang. "Hello," Robin said, his voice calming her.

"How goes it over at the groom's place?" she asked.

He paused before sighing. "It could be better. Right now, Lance and I are the soberest ones here. David is almost there. We've been supplying him with sausage, eggs and coffee. He should be fine by the time he's at the altar. It's Eric and Kris we're worried about."

She sighed. "At least David has you and Lance."

"Yeah," he replied. "How is it over there at the bride's?"

"Ruby and I are the only ones not crying over here. Well, Leo isn't either. I'm going to enlist him to help curb the tears so we can get Mary Margaret ready and on her way to the church."

Robin hummed. "Sounds like we both have our work cut out for us. Good luck, love."

"Same to you," she said. "See you at the church."

They hung up as Regina finally found Leopold Blanchard in the den. He was sitting in his armchair, watching a baseball game in his tuxedo. She knocked on the wall to get his attention. "Leo, I need your help. If we don't do something, your upper floor is going to flood."

Leopold sighed, turning off his TV. "I knew this was going to happen. Who do you need me to take care of?"

"Eva," Regina said. "Ruby is handling Anna and Ariel. Once they are all out of the room, I think I can calm Mary Margaret down."

"Sounds like a good plan." Leopold turned off the TV and stood. He gave her a nod, following Regina out of the room.

They rushed upstairs, where Ruby had managed to get Anna to stop crying. She sat in a corner, compact in hand as she fixed her makeup. Ruby, meanwhile, was hauling Ariel to her feet and dragging her to the bathroom. "We're going to calm down now, okay?" she told the matron of honor.

Hiccupping, Ariel nodded and followed Ruby out of the room. Regina sighed in relief as did the photographer, one of Tink's assistants named Nova. She was a meek brunette who tended to hide in the corner. Regina didn't care as she stayed out of their way. It was one less thing to worry about with everything she had to worry about.

One hysterical woman down, one about to be calmed and two more were left to go. Eva had her arms wrapped around her daughter as Mary Margaret sobbed into the woman's silver gown. Her dark black hair bobbed with her own sobs despite being pinned into a brained bun. Regina stepped aside to let Leopold enter and he hurried to his wife's side. Gently helping her up, he spoke in a soft tone. "Come on, Eva. Let's let the girls finish getting ready. We'll go downstairs."

Eva nodded and let her husband escort her from the room. Regina took her place next to Mary Margaret, dabbing the bride's eyes with a tissue. "Okay, we need you to stop crying because we can't call the makeup artist back. So we need to keep this beautiful look intact until you're down the aisle."

"Right, right," Mary Margaret nodded, taking the tissue from Regina's hands. "Thank you, Regina. You're a good friend."

"You mean I'm a taskmaster."

The bride chuckled. "You're both. And I clearly need both today."

Ariel emerged from the bathroom, no longer crying and with a determined look on her face. She walked over to Regina and Mary Margaret, clapping her hands. "Okay, let's get the bride into her beautiful gown!"